Dinner Party
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: What's better than Laxus, the Thunder Legion, and Team Natsu having a dinner party? The Strauss siblings being there too, of course. Not to mention a surprise proposal. Oh, and alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.
1. Arrivals

Arrivals

"Wow, dragon! You went all out, didn't you?"

"Yep," Laxus said as Mirajane grinned at the lavish table he'd had set, complete with place mats, silverware, water _and_ wine glasses, along with the floral arrangement. "Only cost me-"

"It looks so perfect," the woman giggled as she pranced around the long dining room table. "Professional."

"Well, it should," he grumbled slightly as she still didn't even present him with a hug. Just a bunch of giggles. Sigh. "It was done professionally. And you look great, by the way."

"Thanks. I-"

"I mean," Laxus went on as, giving up on Mirajane showing him any sort of affection, he headed out of the dining room of his apartment, off to go put on his suit, "you only hogged the bathroom for the past-"

"You could have used the guest bathroom."

"It's my apartment!"

"That's debatable."

"Given who signs the rent checks, no, I don't think it is."

"Besides, Laxus," Mirajane called out to him as he headed to go use the master bathroom himself. "You had to stay and make sure the caterers got everything right. This is important, you know."

"No, I don't know."

"It's the night that Bickslow's going to propose to Lisanna," the woman insisted. "That makes it important."

It was a whole thing that, of course, she was at the head of. Bickslow had mentioned that he was thinking about it and, of course, Mirajane couldn't let her little sister get proposed to in some sort of simple, trashy way, could she? No. It had to be nice. And fancy. And she totally had to be there to witness it.

She just had to.

Why she suggested Laxus had to pay for it, he had no idea, but, honestly, expected no less. She seemed to think that his S-Class status meant that he was just bouncing around from pricey job to pricey job and, fine, maybe that was true, but they were his jewels…which is why the dragon typically spent them on his demon.

Heh.

But the only problem was scheduling. If Mirajane was going to be there and it was going to be fancy, then there had to be a good cover. Not to mention Elfman caught wind and insisted that he and Ever should be invited and then that meant that Freed had to come and, hell,when Happy found out from someone (Mirajane, totally Mirajane) that there was going to be an engagement, he was coming too. And the dang cat didn't go anywhere without, of course, Natsu, who wasn't nearly as thrilled, and Lucy, who was completely.

That many people with such busy lives, however, did not offer up for an easy planning. Mira's first thought, back when they weren't all involved, was for Laxus and her to take Bickslow and Lisanna out to dinner. Classic. Totally classic. But with so many moving parts and people at that point, they never could get a date or a reservation all timed out, so that left another option.

"My dining room is for important events, Mirajane," Laxus complained when she suggested it. "You should just tell the others no and then you and I go out to dinner."

"You, I, and Lisanna and Bickslow. Remember, dragon?"

Meh.

"But that won't work," she told him simply. "So your dining room it is."

"Do you really want-"

"Yes."

Sigh.

And that was that.

And also he was catering the dinner. It only made sense, Mirajane insisted, as the pretend idea behind the dinner was his birthday.

"Normal people don't pay for their own birthday party, Mira."

"Maybe in your little circle of jerk friends who stick others with checks you don't," she told him simply, "but-"

"Do not," Laxus groaned. "Use those words next to each other."

"What words?"

"Circle and-"

"Besides," she'd insisted with a roll of her eyes. "After the proposal, they'll realize that it really wasn't for your birthday and we'll celebrate it another time. I'll take you out to dinner. My treat."

It actually worked well, really, in theory, as the dinner party for his birthday (the proposal) was actually to take place a week before the anniversary of the birth of the greatest mage to ever grace Earth Land and beyond. After all, it was the only day that they were all free on.

Mirajane stressed too, to them all, that it would be a very swanky affair (which led to many jokes purposely misusing the context of affair from Bickslow, but since he was marrying her sister, Mirajane let it go) which meant that they all should dress for the nines.

"The tens even," Bickslow suggested once, as they all planned it up at the hall. "Boss's birthday and all. Eh, Lissy?"

"Mmmm. Is there going to be beer?" was all the youngest Strauss asked. And Mirajane, with a knowing smile, told her they could have anything she wanted.

Ugh. She just couldn't wait to plan Lisanna's wedding!

Sure, she'd always pictured her with someone more...well...not Bickslow, but at some point, beggars just can't be choosers. Besides, if they weren't soul mates, that would just mean that Mira would get to plan Lisanna's second wedding to whoever actually was!

It was a great plan, actually, when she thought about it. The execution was flawless as well. There she was, in her boyfriend's overly munificent apartment, in a gorgeous gown and her hair done just right (you know, with her bangs down, the way the dragon liked it; she had a good feeling she'd be putting out that night, after all, given what he'd shelled out for the occasion), as well as convinced her dragon to coordinate with her, the colors of his tie fitting well with her dress.

Actually, when she thought about it as she went to peek into Laxus' kitchen and check on dinner preparations, the man had a bit _too_ nice to her recently. Just how much was she going to have to do for him when the others went home…

Shaking that right off at the sound of a knock at the door, she rushed off to go answer it. Then she found out who was on the other side and tried to mask her disappointment. Not that it mattered; the pair was in the middle of a heated debate anyways.

"Damn it, Ever, I didn't do that!"

"Yes, you did."

"I didn't."

"I know you did."

"You listened to someone else tell you that I did-"

"Which is basically first hand knowledge."

"It is not! And I'm a man! I do whatever manly things I wa-"

"Knock it off," Mirajane told them both with a frown as the two only stood out in the hallway, glaring at one another. "Both of you. Seriously, Elf, this is Lisanna's big day. You too, Evergreen. Even if you don't care about Lisanna and Bickslow's engagement, Laxus still spent a lot on us having a nice time tonight. So could you just both try and behave yourselves? Please?"

No. But then again, what was she expecting?

As they headed over to the couch to delve deeper into their disagreement, Mirajane went to check on Laxus and how he was doing. And, mostly, to make sure that he was following her requirements for his suit. They were going to match whether he liked it or not.

"I don't look my best in blue," he told her with a frown as she helped straighten his tie.

"No," she agreed softly, "but I do. And besides, dragon, it might not be your best color, but you certainly put others to shame in it."

Damn straight.

"Of course I do," he said with a frown. "But-"

"This day isn't about you," she added, giving him a hard stare. He liked blue much better on her. He was more of a purple, honestly. "So stop trying to make it that way."

She thought she'd get a snarky response of how it wasn't about her either, but all Laxus did was snort before stepping away from her so that he could glance back at the mirror.

"I do clean up pretty well, I suppose."

"Of course you do," Mirajane agreed as he leaned against the sink, completely enthralled with himself. "And ooh, dragon. You trimmed up your beard just right."

"Hell yeah I did."

"And left all the little hairs in the sink," she added, glancing down at it. "Haven't we gone over-"

"At your place? Sure. We went over those rules. But this is my place. And my bathroom. And I'm still getting ready." He shooed her right back out the door. "Go entertain your guests, woman." Listening for a moment, he heard Ever still very much so screeching at Elfman. "Or at least try to keep them from strangling one another."

Heh.

Mirajane really had to go, anyways, as there was another knock at the door then and she rushed to go answer it.

"Freed," she breathed at the sight of him because, honestly, he was the only one that could possibly calm Ever and Elfman down. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Yes, well," he said as she welcomed him into the apartment, the man toying with his cufflinks while he did so. "It is quite the occasion, after all. Something to see."

"I guess so."

He noticed Ever and Elfman then, arguing over on the couch still, and frowned slightly before saying, "Is Laxus around?"

"In his bathroom," Mirajane said. "But-"

"I shall go check on him, yes?" Freed even bowed to her before rushing off, leaving Mirajane, once more, alone with Evergreen and Elfman. The two had taken then to just sitting there, on Laxus' black leather couch, refusing to stare at one another. Sighing, the takeover mage headed over to sit between them.

"So," she began slowly. "Are you guys as excited as I am? I mean, this is pretty great, right? Lisanna is going to be, like, _so_ surprised. And I'm so happy that dragon went through all this for them. Sometimes he acts like he doesn't really like Bickslow and Lisanna together."

Leave it to Mirajane to force Elfman and Evergreen to share a look.

"Uh, sis," the muscular man tried. "That's sorta because he doesn't."

"What?"

Evergreen was quick to nod. "He's been very vocal about that, actually."

"He just says that because he cares," Mira tossed them off.

"That doesn't even make-" Ever tried, but Elfman only shook his head. It wouldn't be worth the argument.

"Anyways," her brother went on. "What sorta manly dinner did you plan for us?"

"I really don't know," the woman admitted. "Laxus sorta planned all this. I just showed up. See? All that he went through just for Bickslow and Lisanna? That's called love."

Evergreen had to hold down an eye roll. "Sure."

Humming, Mirajane said, "Did you guys want something to drink or-"

"Yes. Please. Anything with alcohol."

"I want a beer. Like a man!"

"Okay," the woman giggled, getting to her feet. "Just let me- Ooh. The door."

Ugh.

That time it was the man of the hour accompanied by the completely wrong woman.

"Lookie who I ran into," the seith greeted Mirajane as Lucy only made a face at the man's babies, who circled around her in interest. "Louie!"

"Lucy," the woman complained, as the seith only shrugged.

"Eh, whatever." Then he walked passed Mirajane. "Lissy ain't here yet?"

"Nope," Mirajane sang as Lucy, at the sight of her, grinned a bit. "I am so pumped for this. Aren't you guys?"

"More than you know," Lucy gushed. "I've never really watched someone propose to someone. And in such an extravagant way."

"Well, Bickslow just has a flare for such a thing."

The celestial wizard glanced over at the man who, at the moment, was busy explaining to Evergreen and Elfman just how hard tying his bow tie had been and how he'd wished he'd had a clip-on.

"You chump," they all heard from the hall as Laxus walked into the room, toying with his cuff links while staring over at the man. "A bow tie? Who are you trying to impress here?"

"Ah! Boss! You tease." The seith snickered. "A man should look his best, right? When he's offering himself to a woman?"

"Can we not say it that way?" Ever asked with a frown. "For the duration of the night? If not forever?"

"I look dapper, thank you very much," Bickslow said as Freed only came over to him to straighten said red bow tie. "Jaunty. Dashing. Like a dark knight who's slowly learning to-"

"If he gets to speak this way for the entire night, then I reserve the right to drink," Elfman complained, getting to his feet before turning to head over to where Laxus kept his display of liquor. "A lot."

Laxus only snorted, slowly coming to stand at Mirajane's side, giving Lucy a once over as well. He had to make sure, after all, that none of the women looked better than his demon; less he'd have to hear about it for the rest of the week from Mirajane and, probably, go out and buy her a few new dresses to top the others on the next occasion.

Heh.

"You can drink my liquor, Elfboy," the slayer grumbled. "But just this once. Since your sister's gettin' engaged and all."

"Real men drink whatever they want."

"I'mma show you a real man in a-"

"Now, dragon." Mirajane patted his chest gently. "How about you go check on dinner, huh? And have you even greeted everyone?"

He just growled though, before walking off to the kitchen, repeating in his head that he was doing it for Mirajane. He just had to remember that. It was all for Mirajane.

While he was gone, there was the final knock at the door, at which, of course, Mirajane found Lisanna as well as Natsu and Happy.

"Wow," she exclaimed at the sight of the Exceed who fluttered in. "You look really stylish, Happy. By far the best dressed."

"I know," he said, landing on the ground just to show off the tiny tux Lisanna had helped him pick out. "All for, uh, Laxus' birthday. Which he totally invited us to because him and Natsu are so close!" Then, to keep himself from revealing too much, the cat looked to Lucy. "Forget to dress up, did you?"

"Shut it, cat," she hissed as he only took to the air once more to land on her head. "And knock it off! I just did my hair!"

"Not well."

"Look, cat-"

"Oy, Hap," Natsu complained as he followed Lisanna into the house. "Don't get us kicked out before I even get my fight with Laxus."

"You are not," Freed told him with a frown, "touching Laxus."

"It was part of the deal."

"There will be no fights," Mira reminded them all loudly after hugging her sister. "At all. There was no deal, either. We're just all here because we love Laxus and, finally, we're all mature enough to have a nice, simple birthday party in which we can dress eloquently and drink wine without throwing any drinks in someone's face, starting a food fight, or making inappropriate jokes about one another, leading to someone storming off."

Lucy frowned. "What sorta parties do you guys usually have? I always assumed you guys were these elite group of friends that had, like, these amazing get togethers."

Bickslow, who at the moment was busy bugging the hell out of Lisanna by continually reaching over and giving her a nuggie, only frowned. "What would have given you that sorta idea?"

Before she had a chance to speak, however, Laxus was coming back into the room. At the sight of Natsu and Happy, he frowned, but only clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention.

"Mirajane said," he began as they all stared, "that since some of you haven't been here before,that I should give you a tour. So the can's that way, the bedroom's there, the dining area's this way, you're in the living room, and I have a nice little study over that way, and an extra room for my weights in that room right there."

"Laxus," his girlfriend complained once he finished pointing all of that out, mostly for Natsu, Happy, and Lucy's benefit. "You-"

"Great tour," Happy said with a nod of his head. "Superb. Real mature."

Holding down a growl, just from the sound of the Exceed, the slayer asked, "Now what, Mirajane?"

"Now," she said slowly, glancing at all of them, "is time for introductions."

"Intro- But we already know everyone," Elfman complained. "This dinner party ain't too manly. I-"

"Yeah," Bickslow cut him off, though it was in agreement. "Like how this is Lissy and you're Mirajane, that's Natsu and Happy, there's Louie-"

"Lucy," the woman complained to which the seith only stuck out his tongue.

"Perhaps," he suggested then, "introductions are in need."

"You-" the celestial mage tried, but Mira cut her off.

"Great," Laxus said then. "Even better. All introduced. So let's head into the dining room now, huh?"

"Lax-" Mira tried, but Ever only cut her off.

"The sooner we get to the wine," she said loudly, though her eyes were on Freed, "the better."

* * *

 **This was originally going to be a long one-shot, but I figured I'd go ahead and break it up into a five chapter story. Just short little chapters. Nothing special.**


	2. Appetizers

Appetizers

It was with a long sigh that Freed claimed his seat. That, in itself, had been rather complicated. Laxus, for obvious reasons, wanted to sit at the head of the table, but also refused to sit next to a number of people. Namely Natsu or Happy, but he also didn't want to be near Lucy (who took offense to this, but Laxus usually tried to distance himself from women in the guild when he was around Mirajane; especially ones he'd hit on in the past…) or Elfman (considering he didn't want to be near him either, he didn't really care that much).

And he had another request. He wanted Mirajane to sit next to him. And she wanted to sit next to Lisanna, who, obviously, sat next to Bickslow, but that wasn't fair to Happy, who wanted to be next to her as well, and Natsu, well, hell, he just went to go sit at the other head of the table and there was Evergreen, trying to shove Freed out of his seat across from Mirajane and next to Laxus.

It took a bit for everyone to get settled.

And a lot of growling from the resident Thunder God.

In the end, Laxus got his place at the head of the table with Mirajane on his left and Freed on his right. Then Mirajane got to sit next to Lisanna while Happy was on her other side, a stack of books placed on the chair for him to sit upon and be able to reach the table. Natsu was next to him, of course, with Lucy as the other head of the table.

On her other side was Elfman, Ever, and then Bickslow (sitting across from Lisanna, it seemed, was the only option), who was also next to Freed, the seith's babies floating all about the room.

Figuring that all out only took, oh, twenty minutes. By that point Natsu was sorta forgetting why he let Lucy force him into that stuff suit.

Then the meal started.

"Laxus," Mirajane whispered softly, leaning over towards the man at one point. "I asked you to make it nice. Not...exuberant."

Grunt. Then, "You said nice. I went nice."

"How much did this cost?" Mira asked as some servers walked into the room, refilling water and wine glasses. And one was just mostly staring in shock as Natsu literally licked his plate clean, grumbling around it about how if that tiny portion was all they were getting, Laxus should demand his money back. "I just thought, like, we'd have dinner and, maybe, dessert, but-"

"We will," he told her, nodding at the man that refilled his glass. "Plus a lot more."

"All this for Lisanna?"

Laxus only shrugged. "For my birthday, remember? And you guys do say I'm self-absorbed."

Well.

"Natsu," Lucy complained, frowning as he dropped he plate back down onto the table. "Behave."

"I'm tryin'," he complained. "I was promised dinner though and that-"

"There's going to be more."

"There had better be. I put on this stuffy suit and everything."

Happy, with a knowing grin, looked over at Laxus. "It is a birthday party, Natsu. We're celebrating a life, remember?"

Was that what they were doing? He honestly couldn't remember nor care.

"You shouldn't have gobbled it all down," Lisanna critiqued as well, looking over Happy to stare at the Salamander. "Laxus invited us here for his party. Be respectful."

"Why are you on his side?" her friend complained. "He forced Lucy to force me to put on a suit and then fed me that? And I thought that we'd be having a fight at some point-"

"I repeatedly told you no when you asked, you dolt," Laxus complained, glaring down at the table at him. "Not to mention I didn't even want you here. At all. So-"

"Hush, dragon." Mirajane took to tasting her own food then. "And Lisanna's right. It's your birthday party. So let's have fun, huh, guys?"

"Yes," Freed agreed with a nod at the all. His gaze lingered for a bit on Evergreen, though that was more because she had turned in her chair and had a hand on one of the waiters arms, forcing him to stand there with the glass of wine and continually refill her wine glass as she'd only put back as much as he poured in. "Let's-"

"Damn it, Ever, just ask him to leave the bottle," Laxus finally snapped as Lucy sunk down in her chair, glancing around. When Mirajane laid her hand over his arm, he took a deep breath before adding, "Please."

While Lucy was basically trying to cower back into her chair and also keeping Natsu from stealing the food off her plate (he felt half starved, really), Happy was practically on the edge of his seat. Literally, given the dictionary and other novels he was using as, basically, a booster seat, and figuratively as he kept looking back and forth from Laxus to the Thunder Legion, eager for what was going to happen next.

He'd come for a proposal, but was definitely being entertained by what he was getting in the interim.

"Don't curse at my girlfriend." Elfman, who had been picking awkwardly at his plate, looked up with a glare. "Real men don't yell at women!"

Growl. "Look, Elfboy, I've had about enough of-"

"Elfman, shut up," Ever hissed, frowning at him. "You don't talk to Laxus that way."

"Excuse you?" Just like that, it was her that the overly muscular man was yelling at. "I'm trying to stick up for you and you act like that? Fine, Ever. You can keep worshiping your _non_ -man over there-"

"I'm all man, you insufferable prick," Laxus challenged. "And if you don't knock it off-"

"Perhaps we can all take a deep breath, hmmm?" Freed suggested. "And remember why we're here?"

"Yes," Mirajane was quick to agree. "This going to be a really nice, mature night. Remember that word, guys? Mature? For the big day? Laxus' big birthday?"

"Call me a non-man," Laxus grumbled with a frown. "What does that even mean?"

"Oh, dragon," his girlfriend sighed, gently stroking his leg under the table. Lisanna, however, only stared across the table at her boyfriend.

"You're really quiet," she mentioned to which Bickslow only shrugged.

"I'm waiting for something, if you must know."

And Mirajane somehow was able to pick up on him saying that, sitting right to attention, as not to miss what, obviously, was about to be a proposal.

"What?" Lisanna asked to which he only cleared his throat and, oh, Mira felt like she was going to faint (or just blab the news to her sister before her boyfriend got a chance to get it out) but then Bickslow was glaring down the table and not even looking at his girlfriend. Rather, he was glaring at Lucy.

"An apology."

"A what?" Mira exclaimed rather loudly and making Laxus roll his eyes. "That's what you're-"

"I'm sorry, are you looking at me?" Lucy stared back over at him. "Or-"

"Yeah, I am," the seith said, glaring right over at the woman. "And I want one right this second!"

"What did I do?"

"You're the reason that I'm stuck over here between Freed and Ever, once again, instead of next to Lissy or the boss or at least someone remotely hot like you or Mirajane that I could pretend not to look at-"

"You are so lucky," Ever grumbled as she glanced over the label of the wine bottle the waiter had left with her, "that I'm too mad at Elfman right now to question the multiple screwy parts of that sentence."

"I'm not the one that just said you weren't hot," the man grumbled before shoving up from the table.

"And where do you think you're going? Huh?" Laxus complained. "To go muck up some other part of my apartment?"

"Uh, try the bathroom," Elfman told him with a glare. "The men's room!"

"There's only one man's room and you're banned from it," Laxus told him. "Use the guest room."

"Do you guys even listen to yourselves when you talk?" Lisanna asked. "Or-"

"This is so great," Happy told them all loudly. "Really. I'm so glad you invited us, Mirajane. I mean, there's Bickslow hitting on Lucy and Bickslow hitting on her some more and-"

"Would you," the woman in question hissed, glaring over at the cat, "shut up?"

Lisanna only sighed though, going back to her food. "You should have been here, Happy, the time that Bickslow found a tape of Mirajane and Laxus-"

"Lisanna!" both the Thunder God and her sister yelled.

"Meh." Bickslow shrugged. "I liked it better that time that we stalked Laxus because he was dating other women-"

"Would you all shut up?" the man complained.

"W-When was this?" Lucy asked, glancing at Mirajane who just blushed.

"It's not what-"

"It was her," Ever told the celestial wizard with a slight frown. "Transforming into other women. Kinky. But not nearly as bad as that time that we got back from a job and went out to dinner and-"

"Elfman totally thought we were banging?" Bickslow snickered, his babies following suit as they continued to float around the room. "Now that was fun-"

"Really? When I think about that, I think about how Freed creeped Laxus out by talking about sleeping with him and made him and Mirajane leave," Lisanna offered up.

"'W-Why am I being dragged into this?" the letter mage complained. "You cretins!"

"Or when Laxus thought I was hitting on him," Lisanna added, being sure to get that one in before the conversation turned. "That was pretty-"

"I'll strangle you, you little-"

"Laxus, don't threaten her," Mira complained. "And would you all knock it off? This is not mature!"

"Oh, please, Mira," Ever complained after taking a swig straight from the bottle. "What were you expecting? I mean seriously?"

"I, for one," Natsu spoke up, "was expecting more food than what was given to me. And a fight. Not just hearing you guys talk about things that no one cares about."

"I care about them," Happy informed his friend. "A lot!"

"I really never expected you guys to have so many...memories together," Lucy said slowly, glancing around. "And not so many perverted ones."

"You haven't even heard about how thin the walls are at the Strauss house," Ever said around her bottle of wine. "We all hear everything. _Everything_."

Happy about fell off his tack of books with giddiness. "This is the best birthday present ever. And it wasn't even for me!"

Mirajane just sat back in her chair with a sigh as Lisanna gave her boyfriend a sudden frown.

"What was Lucy's crime again?" she asked. "That she had to apologize for?"

"Oh, yeah, that." The seith went back to glaring at the blonde. "She was totally rude to me about the name thing. I got my feelings hurt. Apologize. Now."

"What?" Lucy looked to him as well. "Why are you-"

"Just," Laxus growled from the head of the table, "apologize. Now."

"Well, sorry, then Bickslow, that my name isn't Louie."

"Thank you." He held up his wine glass towards her. "Uh, you're too far too clank our glasses together, but-"

"No one," Freed said loudly, "is clanking anything!"

"Oh, duh, that reminds me," Lisanna said, grinning at Happy then. "Did we ever tell you about the time we all went camping and-"

"I hate them," Laxus told Mirajane. "I honestly do. All of them. Right now, shockingly enough, the only one that's not pissing me off is the Salamander. Amazing."

"Ha-ah!" Natsu threw up an arm in victory. "That means you owe me a fight!"

"And he lost me," the other slayer said with a shake of his head. "He totally lost- The hell was that?"

It was a loud crash sound from the living room that made them all glance over and Bickslow weakly joke, "I think someone clanked something in there."

"Elfman?" Mirajane called out tentatively. "What-"

"I might have broken some liquor bottles in here-"

"And I hate him most all!" was all Laxus yelled before stomping off to go deal with that. "Honestly."

Mirajane just pressed a hand to her face, dismayed by the whole thing. The only good part of that course was, mainly, that it was coming to an end as she saw the waiters coming back into the room to collect their dishes and, hopefully, start on the next course.

She only slung back what was left in her wine glass, hoping that the next one would be better.


	3. Main Course

Main Course

It took some time for Laxus and Elfman to, at least somewhat, clean up the liquor bottle shards, but once they did, they arrived back at the table. Mirajane could tell that Laxus was trying hard not to fight with the other man, if only for her sake, and knew that, after the part was over, she'd be forcing Elfman into paying for everything he broke, regardless of whatever excuse he gave.

"Now," Mira began once more, only once they had their plates in front of them. "Can we all agree to act maturely for the duration of-"

"Wow, Mirajane!" Happy cut her off. "You know me all too well!"

He was speaking (interrupting) of course of the fact that, as opposed to the steak that everyone else was eating, placed upon his plate was some sort of exotic looking grilled fish. He didn't have long to contemplate it, of course, because he was immediately shoving the head of it in his mouth.

After, of course, thanking (interrupting) Mirajane. Then it was full on fish city for him.

"Actually," the woman giggled. "Laxus put this all together. So-"

"Wow!" the Exceed exclaimed, mouth completely full, leaving him nearly unintelligible. Lucy only buried her head in her hands. "Thanks, Laxus!"

That got a grunt from the man, but it was short lived because, just as quickly as it was happening, Natsu was opening his big yap.

"This is it?" the Fire Dragon Slayer gripped. "Lucy drug me all the way here for this? Look! I'll finish this in one bite! You're rippin' me off, man!"

Right. Because after watching all his expensive liquor get wasted on the floor, Laxus really wanted to hear something like that.

Eyes dark and head hardly lifted, the man said dryly, "Wouldn't wanna do that, Dragneel. How about this then? I'll bill you for your whole damn part of this! And your cat and your woman. You like that? Huh?"

"Ha!" Natsu sat up as if in victory. "Jokes on you. I never pay bills! Lucy does."

"Why couldn't you have just invited me?" Lucy whispered morosely, sinking (if possible) even lower in her chair. "Instead of the two of them? It would have been so much better. For everyone."

"I'm glad you invited me," Happy said, plopping the fish head out of his mouth. "And very grateful. But, if you're really feeling the need to be repaid, put my bill on Lucy's tab too, huh?" Then, with a snicker, he added, "I'm sure she can find _some way_ to repay you, Laxus."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lucy shrieked at him. "Huh? You stupid cat, I oughta- Hey, Natsu!"

"What? You weren't gonna eat it," he complained as she batted at his hand, which, at the moment, was reaching for her food. "Luce-"

"No, Natsu. Can't you just, like, take a breath or something? And stop being so annoying?"

"Oh, now I'm annoying?"

"Try always," Happy interjected before going back to his fish. When Natsu looked at him, he only slurred around it, "Wha'? I's talkin' about from Lucy's perspective."

"Man," Elfman muttered to Evergreen as she downed another glass of wine, as if it were water. "And I thought we were bad."

"We?" The woman gave him a noise that counted a snort, but wasn't nearly as unladylike. "In what situation have we ever been-"

"Do I really have to go over it all again?" Bickslow complained from her other side. "I mean, I thought I covered it enough before-"

"What are you talking about?" Evergreen was still pretending to be oblivious. "I had nothing to do with any of that."

"I dunno," Lisanna sighed from across the table. "I seem to remember you being in the bushes with us when we spied on Laxus and Mirajane-"

"You totally helped us put the sex film back too," Bickslow added. "Or at least try to."

"And-"

"I don't know what's worse anymore," Laxus growled from the head of the table. "The fact that Natsu and his cronies are here, the way you idiots keep bring up things that I'm pretty damn sure were never to be mentioned again under the threat of death, or the fact that I facilitated this. All of it. For...my birthday."

Mira blushed a bit. "I pick the threat of death one. Yes. It's all certainly stuff that was forever supposed to be sealed away. If not forever, at least in the previous conversation."

"They are right, however," Freed commented. When Laxus glared at him, he was quick to add, "About Natsu and the others, I mean. To behave this way at an invited event-"

"Us?" Lucy couldn't help it. "You can't be serious! You guys have been cutting up since the start!"

"Yeah, but," Bickslow complained, glaring down at her, still mostly waiting for a true apology, "we're us. And you're you."

"Thanks for the update on reality, Bicks," Lisanna offered. "But I think we all already understood that."

"I meant," he grumbled, annoyed that even she was correcting him, "that they're not a part of us. They're a part of them. If Lucy and Natsu invited us to a party, do you think we'd complain about the food?"

"Depends," Ever offered up honestly. Freed was quick to nod.

"Considering their usual funding," the letter mage added, "it is probably not up to anyone here's caliber. No offense, Natsu, Lucy...and Happy."

"None taken," Happy said, mouth still full of savory fish.

Natsu was still busy trying to force Lucy to hand over her plate, but the celestial wizard did say, "Yeah, I take some offense to that. I mean- Natsu, knock it off!"

"Fine. But you owe me dinner after this."

"Although," Ever muttered to Freed. "I totally think that Lisanna and Bickslow fall right about in with them."

"Hmmm," he agreed. "Elfman too, the way I see it."

'No fair," Elfman growled in response. "I'm a real man! Real men don't grovel over what someone else gave them like Natsu's doing! You go out and get your own food!"

Lisanna only shrugged a bit. "Natsu and Lucy can't be that bad to be lumped in with. I can totally think of way worse people. Like...three others below them, so-"

"Speak for yourself, Lissy," her boyfriend complained, stopping his slouching just so that he could rub his knuckles against his chest. "I am a sophisticated man over here. And don't sell yourself short either, kid. You're at least, like, twenty percent better than Natsu. Thirty than Louie."

"So done with you, Bickslow," Lucy complained though he only grinned at her, tongue hanging out. "So done."

Growling, the seith said, "You better watch yourself! Else I'll let my babies loose on you! And I can't control them. Na-ah. They have a mind of their own."

As his dolls went to go float around Lucy, just to be annoying, Mirajane asked, "Since when, Bickslow?"

"Mmmm...since me and Lissy decided, together, that they deserved to be individuals and not just forced into my sick games."

"So sick," Lisanna agreed.

":Very sick," the seith said. "I'm a sick person. You hear that, Louie? Sick! So stop testing me!"

"Maybe," Natsu offered, "you're sick from the food. Or lack there of. You know, because you were promised a feast and were only delivered, at most, a quarter of one."

That time, Laxus just sat there, silently, while staring at Mirajane. In turn, she glanced down at Lucy who just frowned.

"I don't control him," she complained. "And you guys sure are just letting creep-fest over there make idle threat- Would you please make him call of his dolls? They won't stop bothering me!"

"Bickslow," Freed sighed.

"What?" He was into his food by that point. "They're not even touching her."

That was true. They were just floating as close as possible without doing so. Still extremely annoying, yet not technically bothering her.

Bickslow favorite kinda trick.

Then Mirajane looked to Lisanna who, with a long sigh, called out, "Babies, come here. Leave Lucy alone."

And just from the sound of her calling, they immediately rushed to the woman's side, reclaiming spots on her head, shoulders, and lap. Bickslow gave her a look of his own, but she only shrugged.

No matter how old they got, when Mirajane said to knock it off, Lisanna would knock it off. It'd been engrained into her from a young age and would not be easy, by any feat, to discard.

A beat passed then, in which Ever took another long sip of wine, Laxus silently added all of them (for the billionth time) to the list of people that one day, hopefully, he'd be allowed to murder, and Natsu engulfed his food.

It was Happy, however, that belched.

"Oh, dear," Mirajane giggled, as if it were funny. Lisanna, however, frowned down at him with just as heavy a gaze as Lucy. The Exceed just sat back on his stack of books however, patting at his belly with the hand that wasn't still grasping the skeletal remains of his dinner.

"This is the life," the Exceed sighed. Glancing at Laxus, he asked, "Can I stay with you now? Instead of Natsu?"

"Hey? What? Little buddy, that's not fair," Natsu complained. "This is one night. You think he'd set you up this nice if the occasion weren't so special? I mean it's his birthday, after all! That's how come he's in such a good mood."

Honestly, Mirajane wasn't sure if Natsu was attempting to be coy or had truly forgotten the real reason they were there. The latter, actually, sounded much more likely.

"Judgin' by his face," Elfman told them simply, "I think it has far more to do with Mirajane than anything else."

That was true. Regardless of the occasion (or lack there of), if his demon wasn't next to him, Laxus would have long kicked the two knuckleheads out. Bickslow too. And Elfman.

The women were being fine that night. And Freed, but he was never too bad.

All the others though could hit the curb. Especially the cat. Ooh, that damn cat. All of those damn cats.

Even the ones that weren't at the party.

Sensing a lull (if only slightly) in the conversation, Mirajane immediately attempted to fill it by sitting up straight and staring at Bickslow.

"Man," she said quite loudly. "Now would be an awesome time for a toast or something. Don't you guys think?"

Bickslow didn't even look up from his plate. And, after a beat of silence, Freed move to stand, holding his glass high in the air. At the sight of it, Laxus, knowing exactly what was going on, added the man to the list.

"I, for one," he began loudly as the Thunder Legion and Strauss siblings (save Mirajane) looked on with boredom. Mirajane was glaring, annoyed that, once more, the big moment hadn't reached it's full reveal yet, while Team Natsu only stared in slight interest. Err, well, two of it's members did. The other was still pouting over his dinner. "Believe that we should now all thank our gracious host, Laxus, for what he has present us with here. Never has there been a dinner party such as this-"

"Just like last time we all went fishing together," Bickslow complained, "there was never a time that he planned a better outing."

"Or when we had that get together at your apartment, Freed," Lisanna sighed. "Never a better get-together."

"Real men can admit that, at best, this is a rather sub-par party," Elfman agreed.

"Yeah, well, you dolts try plannin' something sometime," Laxus growled. "Or better yet, stop getting yourselves invited to things I plan!"

"How can they do that?" Lucy asked softly, more to Natsu than anyone else. "I mean, if he's the one inviting them-"

"You say something, girlie?" Laxus added. "Huh?"

"W-What? No." The celestial mage shook her head. "No, I-"

"You just made it on the list," he growled loudly.

"What? What list? Mirajane-"

"Ignore him, Lucy," the woman sighed softly. "Ignore them all. They seem to have all forgotten the point of this whole thing."

Then again, they typically did.

Freed, still standing, only held his drink higher. "To Laxus!"

"Yes," Ever slurred, still sipping on her drink (no way was she raising it above her head). "To Laxus."

"You're a great man, boss," Bickslow agreed.

"Aye," Happy burped. "Sir."

Natsu just snorted. "Why don't you just go live with him then, little buddy? Since he's so great?"

"I really don't think that Laxus would want him," Lucy sighed, still just as burrowed down in her seat as she'd been since the beginning. "If it's any consolation."

"Hey!" Happy frowned over at her. "Laxus wouldn't want you either."

"Good. I never wanted to be wanted by him."

"I'd hope not," Mira replied, glancing down the table at her friend who only blushed and waved slightly.

Laxus only grunted. "You ungrateful brats. You call that a toast? I should just toast my own damn self, I guess, if I want a good toast."

"Now who's ungrateful," Lisanna mumbled, glancing at her brother. He only nodded his head.

"And not the least bit manly."

Freed only fell back into his seat in shame. "Forgive me, Laxus! I tried the hardest I could! You are great. And if my toast did not reflect that then I only have myself to blame!"

"Damn right you do."

"Laxus," Mirajane complained. "Behave."

Heh.

Not a minute later, however, as everyone neared finishing their plates, the final course was announced and, heart swelling once more, Mirajane knew that it had to be then. Bickslow was clearly waiting for dessert to propose to her sister.

Oh, how perfect! Why hadn't she realized it before?

"Dessert, huh?" Natsu shrugged a bit, sitting up once more. "You still owe me dinner at this though, Luce."

"I still don't understand how I owe you anything," the celestial wizard complained.

That was okay. She rarely did.


	4. Desserts

Dessert

"Remind me," Natsu grumbled to Lucy, "not to ever have a dinner party if this is the kinda shabby stuff you gotta have."

"I really don't think that anyone would be coming out to your little shack for a dinner party anyways."

"I would never have one," he insisted, "but if I did, it'd totally be at your place."

"What? No. My apartment is-"

"Yeah!" Happy punched the air. "Party at Lucy's place!"

"No!"

The Thunder Strauss Tribe part of the table were far more concerned with their own problems, at the moment to care anything about Team Natsu and their never-ending antics. At the moment, Evergreen and Elfman were arguing about...whatever usual thing they argued about, Laxus was attempting to casually stare down Mirajane's dress (he had a pretty good angle for it), Freed was tasting his dessert, Lisanna was watching her boyfriend attempt to balance his water glass on his finger, while, actually, her older sister was staring at the seith too.

In shock. And annoyance.

When the heck was he going to finally propose?

Her nerves and excitement were going to be the death of her.

"Mmmm," Freed hummed, staring hard over at Mirajane. "Isn't this chocolate mousse just fabulous, Mira?"

"Huh? Oh, I haven't tried my-"

"Moose?" Happy looked stricken. "This is moose?"

"Not the animal, you stupid cat," Lucy complained. "And hey, I thought cats weren't supposed to eat chocolate?"

"I'm not a normal cat, you know," he complained.

She only made a face. "Oh, I know."

"Freed's right, Mira," Lisanna prompted, spooning up some for herself. "You should try some of this moose."

"Ah, Lissy," Bickslow interrupted. "I believe it's pronounced meese."

"In what world?"

"The one I'm livin' in."

"He's living in another world," Ever remarked. "That explains so much."

"It really does," Elfman agreed. Then he noticed Freed glaring at him and coughed. "But, uh, Mirajane, you should really try this. It's real...good. Great. It's manly!"

Lucy, catching on quickly, said, "Super manly. But really, it's real good. You should-"

"I'm just waiting," the woman sang. "For something."

"Well-"

"Lucy." And she glared down the table at her then. "I am waiting."

"O-Okay, I was just-"

"I'm waiting for something pretty important," she went on, glancing at her sister then before at Bickslow. When her eyes got to the seith's, they were dark. "And I wish that it would hurry up."

"Who? Me?" Bickslow scratched at his head. "Uh, well, maybe after you eat your dessert, huh? Or-"

"If she doesn't want it," Natsu announced loudly, his face covered in the remnants of his own mousse, "Then I definitely do!"

"No." And suddenly Laxus was finished with his ogling. "You don't."

"How do you know what I want? Huh?"

"Natsu." Happy frowned at him. "You don't want it."

"Uh, yeah, little buddy, I-"

"Natsu." And Lisanna was frowning at him too. Ugh. He couldn't catch a break. "You don't want it."

"Fine." He slumped back in his seat. "I don't want it."

"Wouldn't have mattered if you fucking did," Laxus grumbled. "I fed you more than enough for the night. So stop complainin'! Else you can just get out."

"Laxus," Lisanna mumbled. "You can't do that with Natsu, Lucy, or Happy."

"Do what?"

"Parent them," she said. "They're not one of us."

"Yeah, boss." Bickslow wagged his tongue at him. "They're not us."

"Laxus does not...parent us." Freed held his head higher. "He mentors us. Molds us. That's all."

"No one molds me," Elfman growled. "I mold myself!"

"Have I mentioned how...different you guys are?" Lucy asked. "From what I always thought?"

"I think once every course," Evergreen mentioned. "And we all wish you'd learn that you and your cohorts were invited here to be seen, not heard."

"But not fed apparently," Natsu grumbled.

"I was fed perfectly," Happy announced, bouncing on his pile of books, nearly knocking them over. "In fact, I was wondering about adoption fees. Natsu, how much would you accept from Laxus to adopt me?"

"Why would Laxus ever pay for-" Lucy tried, but was cut off by Natsu snorting.

"If he wants you, he can have."

"Well? Laxus?" Happy grinned hopefully up at him. "Where do I bunk?"

"On the street," he growled. "Where all animals belong."

"W-Wha- I'm not an animal!"

"At least," Lucy quipped, "not a normal one. Right?"

"This is an outrage!" The Exceed scoffed. "Just for that, I don't wan to live with you. You can't buy me with your fancy dinners! I'm not movin' nowhere." Then, softly, he added, "Unless, of course, you really want me to-"

"I," Mira announced loudly, fed up with waiting, concerned Bickslow had gotten cold feet or something, "wish that we could change the subject. Please. Or perhaps someone would like to make an announcement or-"

"Mira." And now it was Laxus, staring down at her with a heavy gaze. "Maybe you should try eating your dessert, huh?"

"But… Fine." She did it with an attitude too as she leaned down to spoon some up. "But I- Oh."

And there it was, buried beneath some whipped cream that topped her dessert. And, upon realizing what it was, Mirajane's eyes turned huge and she looked over at Bickslow, trying to mouth to him how there had been a mix up and she was sorry and he was just shaking his head.

"I don't...Here, Lisanna," she finally said. "Bickslow wanted to-"

"No, Mira," her sister giggled, shaking her head with a silly grin. "It was in your-"

"But it's yours! Really! It-"

"No, it's-"

"Would someone explain it to her?" Ever complained around yet another glass of wine. "She's giving me a headache."

"Maybe the alcohol's just gone to your head," Bickslow muttered. She only glared down at him without saying a word, however.

"Mirajane," Lucy giggled loudly, clapping her hands together. Clearly, this was what she'd been waiting for. "Don't you understand?"

"I… Is it for me?" And then she glanced down at the diamond ring before over at Laxus. He was just staring at her though. "L-Laxus… I thought that Bickslow was going to-"

"You always said that you wanted it to be a surprise," he remarked. "And come on; do you really think that Bickslow could afford that ring?"

"It's true," the seith remarked with a grin. "Like I'd ever spend that much money on anyone other than myself. No offense, Lissy."

"Then you weren't ever going to-" Mira tried, but Elfman started up.

"It was all Laxus' idea," the man said loudly. "He stepped up! Like a man! And surprised you!"

"I don't even...know what to..." And Mira was tearing up then, grinning over at the slayer. And while it was all nice in theory, the idea of having a proposal in front of so many people suddenly embarrassed the man a bit.

For someone that liked captivating (or taking captive of) an audience, when it was dealing with love and the demon, he got rather bashful.

"Mira." And his voice was even and calm too, though on the inside he was a bit antsy. "Will you marry me?"

He wasn't even sure, really, why he was nervous. And as she jumped up to go hug him and he got to his feet, bracing himself for when the woman pounced on him, he knew he shouldn't have been.

"Yes," she mumbled against his cheek as she pressed a kiss to it. And he was trying not to smile too big, because he was still there in front of those clowns, but it was hard.

"I'm so lost," Natsu whispered to Lucy. "What are we doing now?"

"Nothing," she responded though her eyes never left across the table, where Mirajane and Laxus were embarrassing. "I'll explain later."

"Awe!" Happy was more excited, it seemed, than even Lisanna. Wings appearing, they fluttered a bit as he said, "This is the best day ever!"

Ever, sighing, tried her hardest to look thrilled for Laxus, but she was finding it hard. Freed had that same problem as well. It wasn't that they disliked Mirajane. Not at all. It was just…

It was the final nail in the coffin. That's what it was. They were forever entangled with the Strauss family from that point forth.

Not that they hadn't been for quite some time, but there was no going back then, it seemed.

Bickslow, however, was completely lost in laughter then. A direct contrast to Elfman, who was sobbing uncontrollably for some reason as Lucy tried to pat him on the back, though she seemed a bit unsure of that part.

"Ha ha!" Bickslow fist pumped. "We tricked you, Mirajane! I had you goin', yeah? Completely and utterly."

"Yeah, sis, I'm super happy for you," Lisanna chipped in, "but a tad disappointed. How could you possibly think I was getting married? That's, like, so antiquated."

"Yeah." Bickslow's tongue fell out as his babies repeated the word antiquated continually. "Only old people get married, boss!"

He didn't even take the time out to grumble about the seith's age not being far off from his own, Laxus didn't. Just kept his arms wrapped around Mirajane's as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Here," he said, trying to pry her ring from her fingers. She wasn't giving it up though. "Let me go wash this-"

"No, I can wear it like this," Mira told him hurriedly, wishing he'd just go ahead and put it on her finger already. Laxus, finally, let a bemused smile through. "I-"

"Let me see." He snatched it finally before moving to dunk the thing in his water glass, patting it dry on a napkin afterward. Then, staring her in the eyes the entire time, he slipped it right on her finger. "There."

And Mirajane was tearing up again, staring down at it, while Lisanna and Lucy only clapped for her before both looking at one another and giggling.

As they were watching, and even though part of them hated it, Ever and Freed both had to admit, their idol did look the happiest he'd ever been.

"I love you," Laxus told Mira as she only beamed and moved to hug him once more. It was against his chest, however, that she asked something.

"But why all of this? I mean-"

"You told me that you wanted something fancy," he said as he gently patted her on the head. "So I was going to take you to dinner. But you also told me you wanted to be surprised and I knew that if it was too nice, you'd be tipped off. So I was going to have Bickslow talk to you about marrying Lisanna, so you would think that was what we were going to dinner for. But then you insisted that Lisanna would want Elfman there and he had to have Ever and if we were inviting them, then Freed had to come, and somehow you wrangled Natsu into the picture and I went along with it, for the rouse, but that meant Lucy and the cat too and that would cost so much, out at a restaurant, and-"

Mirajane only reached up to grab his cheeks in her hand then, squeezing a bit before she drug him down for a kiss. Against his lips, she whispered, "I love you."

That time an honest grin broke through. "Yeah. I know."

"To go through all of this for me-"

"You're worth it." And it was him moving to hug her then. "You're so worth it."

Elfman's blubbering was beyond control then and Ever only reached across the table to take Lisanna's recently refilled wine glass and down that too.

She had to be careful; if the big dope got too emotional, he might pop the question to her.

And Evergreen was _not_ ready to deal with that.

"You can all be in the wedding party," Mirajane said suddenly, still leaning back against her slayer, though she turned to face them. Lisanna and Lucy, who'd been expecting this, only grinned. "You too, Happy."

"Really?" He perked right up. "Alright! I can be a groomsman!"

"No." And Laxus' tone was absolute then. "You can't."

Mira was too pleased with the man then to argue. "You can be the ring bearer, Happy."

He was all excited too, the Exceed was, until Bickslow asked, "Isn't that a job for little kids?"

Happy's face fell. "W-What?"

Giving her boyfriend a look, Lisanna just said, "We'll find you something to do, Happy. Don't worry about it."

"And the Salamander ain't being one of my groomsmen," Laxus added, removing himself from his bliss for a moment to save a brewing problem. "I mean it."

"Like I wanna be." Natsu looked off. "Your parties are lame anyways."

"A wedding party isn't-" Lisanna started, but Lucy only shook her head.

"Ooh, and Freed, we have to start planning, like, now," Mirajane said, looking to the letter mage who only returned her smile. When Laxus squeezed her a bit, she giggled before saying, "Or maybe next week."

She would, after all, be busy with him for a bit.

Lisanna only giggled. "I'm your Maid of Honor though, right, Mirajane?"

"Of course."

Lucy only stared. "Well, I thought that I-"

"Oh, Lucy," Mira scrambled then. "I-"

"Well, I'm your sister," Lisanna interjected. "So-"

"But I'm the best friend, so-"

"Ever'll be her Maid of Honor!" Elfman declared, making them all stare at him. Sniffling, he added, "And I'll be Laxus' Best Man."

"What?" the slayer bellowed. "Where did you get that sorta-"

"I'm your brother now!"

"You're not my brother."

"I am too! We're brothers."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Obviously," Freed said interrupted. "I will be Laxus' Best Man."

"What gave you that idea?" Bickslow frowned. "Obviously the boss wants me and Mira wants Lissy, so-"

"Knock it off." And Evergreen, without a stake in the fight, suddenly sounded quite mature. Save, you know, the slurring of a few words. She was, after all, more than a tad wasted. "This isn't the time for that. Any of it. So- Ooh." And then she was putting a hand to her head, finally feeling the full effects of her wine. "So drunk."

What she'd said previously, however, made them all take a step back and just sit there. Natsu, seizing the moment, moved to snatch the rest of Lucy's dessert while Happy finally fluttered right off his pile of books and went to land on Mirajane's head.

"I'm super happy for you, Mirajane," the Exceed said as she grinned widely. "And you too, Laxus."

The slayer, annoyed that the cat was bothering them, only said in a rather deadpanned voice, "There's no pets allowed at the wedding."

"W-What?"

"Laxus," Mira chided while the others only laughed. Still, she found herself grinning too before looking down at her ring.

Her slayer had done good. He'd done real good.

* * *

 **There'll be one last follow up chapter and this one's in the books.**


	5. Departures

Departures

Things, of course, more or less fell apart from there. Mirajane was done with the rest of them for, oh, the rest of the night (and the next morning, probably, which meant Lisanna was probably gonna have to open the guild), so that kinda killed the party. She was just sitting at the head of the table, literally _in_ Laxus' lap and, well, Happy might have enjoyed that and Freed might have enjoyed pretending it was him, but the rest of them were kinda over it all by that point anyways.

"We're, uh, gonna take off, okay, sis?" Lisanna said as the woman only glanced away from staring up at Laxus long enough to nod. "Come on, Bicks."

"Is it over already?" He jumped up though. "Great! I mean, uh, not great, boss, because this has been great and something ending that was great clearly isn't great, but at the same time-"

"Why," Laxus grumbled from around Mirajane's shoulder, where his head was being pressed, "are you talking to me?" Then he lifted his head a bit. "Better question; what are any of you still doin' here? Huh? I'm done with you. Begone from my sight."

"Laxus," Mira scolded though it was through a giggle. "Behave."

Elfman, sniffling, got to his feet. "W-Well if we have to go-"

"You do." Laxus was serious about that, it seemed. "Now."

"-then at least let me hug you first, sis!"

Laxus didn't really wanna give up his demon yet, but she was bouncing right out of his lap and that was that.

That, of course, set off a chain reaction of them all having to hug Mirajane and ugh, why had he invited any of those losers again?

"You know," Ever mumbled to him as her boyfriend hugged the hell out of his new fiancee. "It's not too late to say this was all a prank and probably walk away with your life."

"That," Laxus told her simply as he nodded over at Mirajane, "is my life."

Rolling her eyes, she only said, "Whatever you say, Laxus."

And Freed made him stand up, so he could hug him too, but it was all so annoying. They were making it more than it needed to be. Not to mention they were eating into great bonin' the demon time.

Did they not know that was all he lived for?

Natsu used all of their distracted states to his advantage, going ahead and circling around the dining table and finishing off all the desserts as Happy sat atop his head snickering. Laxus took notice of this, but, since it was supposed to be a night of celebration, decided not to pummel him into the ground.

Just that once.

He'd just beat the shit out of him twice as hard next time he pissed him off.

Lucy was talking Mira's head off right before they left and the demon was eating it up, but Laxus finally had enough after awhile and downright demanded they all get out.

Serious enough that they got the message, but playful enough that the demon took it as him joking.

"Alright," he finally grumbled as they all hung around in his living area. "Get out the door and get gone. You morons. Before I fuckin' fry you."

Moron was playful, right? Meh. Maybe Laxus didn't care as much about it as he thought.

It wasn't like they were alone either, once all the goodbyes were said and their friends were out the door.

"Your caterers are still here," Mirajane reminded as Laxus tried to cart her off to the bed. He only continued to tug her towards the hall.

"You go get outta that dress, yeah?" He patted her on the head. "I'll take care of them."

"Okay," Mira giggled as he only pressed a kiss to her head before heading back to do just that. "Silly."

He had the guys rush it too, the caterers, telling them to get out as fast as possible. Even gave them a huge tip. And, when even that was taking too long for his liking, Laxus just told 'em to see themselves out when they were done before rushing off to the bedroom to hope that Mirajane would start with them around or not.

Lucky him, she did.

"Mmmm, dragon," she giggled as she settled into his lap eventually. Laxus was mostly focused on stroking her ring finger gently, staring down at the diamond upon it. "You're so bad."

"Bad?" he repeated. "Or fuckin' awesome?"

"A good bad," she corrected, avoiding using the term he had. Shaking her hand free of his, she moved to rest it against his cheek. As he leaned into her touch, she whispered, "A very good kinda bad."

It was Laxus turn to grin as he whispered, "Not that I don't love this, demon, but you're gonna have to wiggle out of those panties sometime, yeah? Soon, preferably."

"You're so cute."

If that's what she thought of as cute, sure, whatever.

He was mostly just horny though.

"Hey," Mira mumbled at one point as he'd kinda started nuzzling into her neck and trying to wiggle her out of the slip she'd been wearing under her dress. "Now that we've gotten this out of the way-"

"Ain't outta the way just yet," he mumbled against her flesh.

"No, dragon. I meant the engagement. Now that we're, you know," she whispered, as if still a bit in shock on that part, "engaged, does that mean that we're gonna..."

"Gonna...get married? Move in together?" Laxus honestly had no idea why the woman would question this, but also had no idea why the woman did half of the things that she did, so he only nodded his head. "Yes. Of course."

"No." More giggled. Then, eyes bright, she whispered, "I wanna talk about having babies."

Gag. Shit. He'd had a plan for this exact moment. Something about how he wasn't really father material, regardless of the fact he'd more or less told her he was before when she asked those dozens of other times, but that was just because he was horny and hey, wait, he was still horny, so really, couldn't he just explain all that later?

Or something?

"Later," he whispered to Mirajane. "I mean, yes. If the question was if we'll have some. Other than that though, I really don't wanna think about that right now, yeah?"

More giggles. Mmmm. His demon was heavenly.

For as glad as he was to get rid of those suckers he'd roped into helping him wrangle his demon though, they were equally glad to be out of that place.

"I just can't believe she said yes!"

Well, everyone other than Elfman.

"I can't believe he even asked. And her of all people."

And Evergreen.

"I just hope they'll be happy. I mean, of course, I have my doubts, but still."

Or Freed.

"I thought that it was super sweet," Lucy butted in. And Happy, who was balanced on her head, nodded his quickly.

"Yeah! It was great."

Giggling as they all walked down the road together, Lisanna said, "I really enjoyed it too."

Natsu only grunted though, clearly tired of talking about Mirajane and Laxus in general. "So are we gonna do somethin' else now? Like go and get something to eat?"

" _We_ ," Ever told him, glaring over her shoulder at the Salamander, "aren't doing anything. At all."

"Why would I be talking to you anyways?" Natsu only shook his head before glancing at Lisanna. To her, he repeated, "Are we? Because I wanna go get ice cream."

"Ice cream sounds great, actually," the youngest Strauss giggled. Bickslow, however, only frowned.

"Are you people mad?" he complained as his babies floated around, repeating the final word. "Boss just fed us the most filling meal in all of the world! A free one. But you suckers are so disrespectful that you whine about not being filled? How rude."

Lucy frowned over at him. "Well, if you don't want to go, Bickslow-"

"Did I say that?" He rubbed a knuckle against his chest. "I'm the most disrespectful guy around! I want more than just ice cream! I want a full on dinner! Come on!"

"Count," Freed grumbled as he hurried along to keep pace with Ever and far away from the latter half of the group, "me out."

"I don't think you were ever counted in," Ever offered to him as Bickslow happily headed off down another road, Natsu, Lucy, and Lisanna following. Elfman seemed torn momentarily, but, with a sigh, followed his girlfriend. He wasn't allowed to have fun; it was one of Ever's unspoken rules, it seemed. "And trust me, that's a good thing."

Freed only took to crossing his arms. "They are acting as if this wasn't the most monumental thing to happen in years."

"Is that what it was?" Elfman spoke up, glancing ahead at the two of them. "Monumental?"

Ever resisted rolling her eyes. "Just be quiet, Elfman, if you don't understand what's going on."

"Well, I think I understand it plenty! Mirajane and Laxus are getting married and you two are all put out about it because...because… Why are you so upset about it again?"

Groaning, his girlfriend hardly spared him a glance. "Because, you moron, the two of them aren't-"

"I am not," Elfman growled, "a moron! I'm a man!"

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"I am!"

"Such a man that you cried at the sight of your sister and Laxus-"

"It was emotional! Them doin' all that." He sniffled. "It ain't like I'm so excited about it either. About Laxus mucking up my sister."

"I don't know if mucking's the right word," Freed mused softly. "Close, but no cigar, as one might say."

Elfman only growled. "I might not be excited for them, but at least I ain't sulking about it."

"I'm not sulking." Ever finally glared over her shoulder at him. "Do I look like I'm sulking? Freed, am I sulking?"

"W-Well-"

"If," she went on," I was sulking, would I have even go to the stupid thing? Or the stupid ruse?"

"If Laxus told you to, you would," Elfman grumbled. "So stop pretending otherwise."

"First off, Elfman, you're the last person to be telling anyone about them doing what another person says, so-"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"I think that you better consider what it means before I have to explain to you just why that isn't what it means!"

"And I think-"

"I," Freed cut them both off, immediately headed the other way, "think I'm suddenly in the mood for some ice cream."

Or at least in the mood for less of the two of them.

However, the second he got away from them, he suddenly realized that a dose of Bickslow, Lisanna, Happy, and Natsu were not something he wanted either (Lucy could be tolerated for the most part). So instead he headed home to contemplate if his friendship that he'd formed with Mirajane was worth finally putting to rest the ideas of him one day having a companionship with Laxus.

And though that didn't sound very appealing to him, choosing it rather than catching up with the others had been a very good one. He would have only felt miserable given how pumped up they all were.

Such a silly reason at that. Hn. Freed's only idol had just proposed to a woman that, while he very deeply enjoyed her company himself, just wasn't cut out to be his wife. Now that was something to focus on. Talk about. Not just that, to them, two random people in the guildhall were getting married.

Sure, Bickslow thought of Laxus as an idol and Mirajane was Lisanna's sister, but neither carried quite the weight that it did to Freed.

Not nearly.

And there was not a single topic, it seemed, to Natsu for the rest of the night that didn't revolve around stupid Laxus proposing to Mira and that just wasn't fun. At all.

They seemed pretty entertained though. Especially Happy.

"Will you really never get married, Lisanna?" he asked, as if disappointed. He was flying then (Lucy finally kicked him off her head). "Like never ever?"

"Gross." She even stuck out her tongue. "No."

Happy only groaned from the air, making them all glance up at him. "That means that I have to savor Mira's a whole bunch then. Who knows then when the next one will be?" Then, just like that, he was snickering. "Too bad for you, Lucy."

"Wait, what?" Frowning, she made a face up at him. "What about me?"

"You know," he explained, "it'll suck to for you too. What other wedding will you ever be involved in?" Before she could answer, he added, "Definitely not your own."

"Shut up, you stupid cat. You-"

"See? Who would wanna marry an animal abuser?"

Bickslow nodded, glancing over at the woman. "A Happy hater?"

"Bickslow, don't encourage him," Lisanna told him though, honestly, she was giggling just a bit too.

"Yeah," Lucy remarked with somewhat of a bitter undertone. "Because I just see Carla hitting you up for so many dates, Happy."

That made the cat scoff before complaining, "Natsu, Lucy's bothering me!"

"I am not!"

The slayer only snorted. "What's Mirajane doin' marryin' stinkin' Laxus anyhow? I could best him in a fight, you know."

Lucy gave him a look. "What are you saying? That Mira should marry you then?"

"She'd wish." Natsu flexed. "If ripoff slayer is what she's goin' for, she's getting it."

"Oy, Lissy," Bickslow said, glaring over at the Salamander. "You better save your friend before I teach him what happens when you talk bad about the boss, yeah?"

She only hummed though, staring up at Happy. "I'm super happy for Mirajane, actually. I think her wedding will be loads of fun."

"I dunno," Lucy admitted softly. "I hear that some women, like, become monsters when it comes to their weddings."

"Not Mira," Lisanna assured her. "Besides, with me as her maid of honor, she won't have a chance to be stressed anyways. I-"

"Did we ever get a consensus on that?" Lucy cut her off. "Because I thought-"

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious who she's going to choose."

"Mmmm, so do I though," was all Lucy sang, both their tones keeping things light though, clearly, there was going to be a bit more to it eventually.

Of course, considering Mirajane already knew without a doubt it would be Erza, they were both kinda in the wrong.

Happy only came tumbling down to the ground suddenly, landing on Natsu's head. To the slayer, he said, "Hey, Natsu?"

"Hmmm? What is it, buddy?"

Leaning over the top of his head so that he could stare down at him, Happy asked, "Would you ever get married?"

Snort. "Not if that's the sorta food you gotta serve. I mean, Laxus paid for that junk?"

"I warned you, Lissy," Bickslow growled, coming to a total stop then. "I told you to get your stupid friend and you wouldn't. Now he's gonna have to pay!"

"Is he talkin' about me?" Natsu stopped too, turning to face the seith. "Because I'll take you down right now! Alright! Screw ice cream."

"Natsu," Lucy complained. "This is really stupid. Just-"

"Well," Lisanna giggled as Happy jumped from the slayer's head, going to land in the woman's arms, to get a better view. "At least it'll give us something to do."

"Yeah," Lucy grumbled, stopping as well, just to watch them. "Cap off this nice day with a completely meaningless fight."

"Nice?" Happy stared over at her with a smirk. "How is realizing you're gonna die alone nice, Lucy?"

"I said to shut it, cat!"

Not that Laxus cared any about the clearly sour endings the rest of them had after the party. As he was laying around with Mirajane that night, mostly watching her stare down at the nice little ring on her finger, he couldn't think of anything other than how perfect everything had been. Even Elfboy wrecking his liquor and the Salamander being there. It had all just been amazing.

"Mmmm," Mirajane yawned as she curled up against him just slightly, eyes still mostly focused on the ring that set upon her finger. "You know I'll never trust you again, right? From now on, I'm going to be expecting this kinda surprise for every nice dinner we have."

Laxus only leaned his head down though, nuzzling gently against hers. "Yeah," he muttered. "But it's was completely worth it."

* * *

 **And that's it for that. New chapter of Closure or maybe Late is up next, if not some one-shots in between there. Who do you guys think would win in a battle anyhow? I've teased it a bunch before, Natsu and Bickslow, but never really let them get down to it. I definitely favor Bickslow (mind control's a win-all for me), but Natsu's definitely the superior mage. Not that it matters. Their interactions are typically brief, if at all, anyways.**


End file.
